Modeling of a Hybrid Power System for Economic
Analysis and Environmental Impact in HOMER
Ahmad Rohani Kazem Mazlumi
Electrical Engineering Department Electrical Engineering Department
Zanjan University, Iran Zanjan University, Iran
rohani@znu.ac.ir kmazlumi@znu.ac.ir
Abstract—This paper shows the way to design the aspects of a
hybrid power system that will target remote users. It emphasizes
the renewable hybrid power system to obtain a reliable
autonomous system with the optimization of the components size
and the improvement of the capital cost. The system can provide
electricity for a remote located village. The main power of the
hybrid system comes from the photovoltaic panels and wind
generators, while the fuel cell and batteries are used as backup
units. The optimization software used for this paper is HOMER.
HOMER is a design model that determines the optimal
architecture and control strategy of the hybrid system. The
simulation results indicate that the proposed hybrid system
would be a feasible solution for distributed generation of electric
power for stand-alone applications at remote locations.
Keywords-Fuel Cell; HOMER; Optimization; Photovoltaic
panel; Wind Generator.
I. INTRODUCTION
Commonly hybrid energy systems use solar, wind, and
hydro energy sources, although most of the renewable energy
available on earth consists of different forms of solar energy.
A system of the combination of these different sources has the
advantage of the balance and stability [1]. The concept of
photovoltaic (PV) is well understood and currently thousands
of PV-based power systems are being deployed worldwide, for
providing power to small, remote, grid-independent
applications [2]. Additionally, use of renewable energy sources
reduces combustion of fossil fuels and the consequent CO2
emission which is the principal cause of global warming.
Despite abundant availability of solar/wind energy, a PV or
Wind Generator (WG) stand-alone system cannot satisfy the
loads on a 24-hour basis [3]. Often, the variations of
solar/wind energy generation do not match the time
distribution of the load. Therefore, power generation systems
dictate provision of battery storage facility to dampen the time-
distribution mismatch between the load and solar/wind energy
generation and to facilitate for maintenance of the systems [4].
PV and WG generated electricity stored in batteries can be
retrieved during nights. Also use of Fuel Cell (FC) system
with PV/WG/battery reduces battery storage requirement.
Research conducted worldwide indicates that hybrid
PV/Wind/battery system is a reliable source of electricity [5,6].
National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) Hybrid
Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER)
Proceedings of ICEE 2010, May 11-13, 2010
978-1-4244-6760-0/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE
Hossein Kord
Electrical Engineering Department
Zanjan University, Iran
kord@znu.ac.ir
software has been employed to carry out the present study.
HOMER performs comparative economic analysis on a
distributed generation power systems.
Inputs to HOMER will perform an hourly simulation of
every possible combination of components entered and rank
the systems according to user-specified criteria, such as cost of
energy (COE, US$/kWh) or capital costs. Furthermore,
HOMER can perform “sensitivity analyses” in which the
values of certain parameters (e.g., solar radiation or wind
speed) are varied to determine their impact on the system
configuration [7].
In this paper the simulation of a hybrid energy system
composed of PV together with WG, FC, and battery storage
has performed and a power management strategy has designed.
Finally the simulation results and discussion have presented.
II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
On the design point of view, the optimization of the size of
hybrid plants is very important, and leads to a good ratio
between cost and performances. Before the system sizing,
load profile and available insolation should be evaluated.
Therefore they are presented in the following sections.
A. Solar Radiation and Wind Speed Data
In the present work, solar radiation and wind speed data
represents average of the period 1986-1993, and collected
from real case near Shiraz (South, Iran, 29° 36' N, 53° 40' E)
[8]. This data has been analyzed to assess utilization of hybrid
PV/WG/battery/FC power systems to meet the load
requirements of a typical remote village (with annual energy
demand average of 623 (kWh/d)). As shown in Fig. 1 the
monthly average daily solar radiation ranges from 3.26 to 7.61
(kWh/m2). Fig. 2 shows the monthly average daily wind speed.
B. Load Profile
An important consideration of any power generating system
is load. As a case study and as a representation of remote
village which lack access to the utility grid, the measured
annual average energy consumption has been considered to
scale the load to 623 (kWh/d) in the present study. The daily
average load profile is shown in Fig. 3. The peak requirements
of the load dictate the system size. In this study 65.1 (kW) has
been considered to scale peak load.
 Global Horizontal Solar Radiation Monthly Averages
1.2 The model has been developed using HOMER, consists of a
max PV, WG(s), a battery and a FC fed by Hydrogen. The
1.0 daily high
schematic of this hybrid power system is shown in Fig. 4. In
Average Value (kW/m2)

mean
0.8 daily low
order to verify the system performance under different
min situation, simulation studies have been carried out using real
0.6 weather data (solar irradiance and wind speed). The goal of the
optimization process is to determine the optimal value of each
0.4
decision variable that interests the modeler. A decision
0.2 variable is a variable over which the system designer has
control and for which HOMER can consider multiple possible
0.0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Ann values in its optimization process. In this study, decision
Month variables in HOMER include:
Fig. 1. Monthly average daily solar radiation.
• The size of the PV array
20
Wind Speed Monthly Averages • The number of WG
max • The size of FC
daily high • The Capacity of batteries
Average Value (m/s)

15 mean
• The size of the DC/AC converter
daily low
min • The size of the electrolyser and hydrogen storage tank
10
A. Power Management Strategy
The dispatch strategy is load following type and interaction
5
between different components is as follows:
In normal operation, PV and WG feed the load demand. The
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Ann
excess energy from PV and WG is stored in the battery until
Month full capacity of the battery is reached. The main purpose of
Fig. 2. Monthly average daily wind speed.
introducing battery storage is to import/export energy
depending upon the situation. In the event, the output of PV
70 exceeds the load, and the battery’s state of charge (SOC) is
60
maximum, the excess energy is fed to electrolyser or goes un-
used (due to lack of demand). The FC is brought into the line
50
when PV and WG fail to satisfy the load and the battery
storage is depleted (i.e. when the battery’s SOC is minimum)
Power (kW)

40
[9]. The details of proposed hybrid system components can be
30
found in table I [8,10,11,12].
20

10

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month

Fig. 3. Daily average load (kW) for a complete year.

III. HOMER SIMULATION MODEL

In the present work, the selection and sizing of components
of hybrid power system has been done using NREL’s HOMER
software. HOMER is a general purpose hybrid system design
software that facilitates design of electric power systems for
stand-alone applications [7]. Input information to be provided
to HOMER includes: electrical loads (one year of load data),
renewable resources, component technical details and costs,
constraints, controls, type of dispatch strategy, etc. HOMER
designs an optimal power system to serve the desired loads.
HOMER is a simplified optimization model, which
performs hundreds or thousands of hourly simulations over
and over (to ensure best possible matching between supply and
demand) in order to design the optimum system. It uses life Fig. 4. Proposed system configuration in HOMER.
cycle cost to rank order these systems [7].
 TABLE II. TECHNICAL DATA AND STUDY OF ASSUMPTIONS IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
COMPONENTS
Several simulations have been made by considering
PV array
different PV capacities and the number of WG. The PV
Capital Cost 4850 US$/kWpk
capacity has been allowed to vary from 0 to 400 (kW), and the
O & M Cost 0 number of WG has been allowed to vary from 0 to 4. The
Efficiency 15 % battery storage size (kWh) considered include 0-6 load-hours
Lifetime 25 year autonomy (equivalent to 0-6 hours of average load). Also the
Tracking system No Tracking FC power has been considered to change from 25 to 100 (kW).
WG The simulation results for 5.45 (kWh/m2/d) solar radiation and
Technology Fahrlander 100 4.3 (m/s) wind speed (equivalent to monthly average of Shiraz
Power 100 kW weather data) are presented in table II. The first column shows
Hub Height 35 m the presence of PV modules, WG(s), FC, and Battery in hybrid
Capital Cost 320000 US$ system. It can be noticed from these results that the first
O & M Cost 300 US$/year system consist of PV/WG/Battery is the most commercial but
Lifetime 25 year in this paper the result of the second configuration has
FC array considered because of presence of all components.
Capital cost 8000 US$ The COE of hybrid PV/WG/Battery/FC/Electrolyser system
Replacement cost 6000 US$ (150 kW PV, 100 kW WG system, Battery and hydrogen
Lifetime 5000 hour storage, 0.01 % annual capacity shortage) has been found to be
Efficiency 50 % is 0.398 (US$/kWh) as shown in table II.
Electrolyser The annual electric energy production and annual electric
Capital cost 8000 US$ energy consumption is tabulated in table III and table IV
Replacement cost 6000 US$ respectively. The production of power by individual renewable
Efficiency 74 % source is stated here as the percent fraction. The annual
Lifetime 20 year emission of the hybrid system is tabulated in table V. Powers
Battery generated by PV and WG during 24 hours in a typical day are
Technology Lead-acid presented in Fig. 5, also Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 show the battery
Capacity 7.6 kWh
SOC and the stored hydrogen monthly average.
Nominal Capacity 1900 Ah 160
PV Pow er
Fuhrländer 100
Voltage 4v
Min. SOC 40 %
120
Capital cost 1000 US$
Replacement cost 1000 US$
Power (kW)

Efficiency 80 % 80

Lifetime 10588 kWh

Converter
40
Capacity 25 kW
Capital cost 15000 US$
Replacement cost 15000 US$ 0
0 6 12 18 24
Efficiency 95 %
Lifetime 20 year Fig. 5. Powers evolutions during 24 hours.
Hydrogen Tank Battery State of Charge Monthly Averages
100
Capital cost 1300 US$/kg max
Lifetime 25 year 90 daily high
mean
Initial tank capacity 10 % 80
Average Value (%)

daily low
Consider year-end tank level Yes min
70
System Data
Project Life Time 25 year 60
operating strategy Load following
50
Spinning reserve 10 % of the load
Set Point SOC 80 % 40

Max. Annual Capacity Shortage 1% 30

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Ann
Daily Noise of Load 9.92 % Month
Hourly Noise of Load 9.88 %
Fig. 6. Battery SOC Monthly Averages.
 TABLE II. SIMULATION RESULTS
PV WG Conv. Elec. H2 tank Total Cost COE FC
System Type
(kW) (kW) (kW) (kg) (US$) (US$/kWh) (hours)
150 2 100 --- --- 1,790,833 0.317 ---
150 1 50 50 50 2,258,233 0.398 324
350 --- 100 50 50 3,275,584 0.580 773
200 4 50 100 50 8,970,500 1.583 3.692
Stored Hydrogen Monthly Averages
50
max
daily high
In the purposed hybrid system the unmet load is 654
40 mean (kWh/yr). Fig. 8 shows the unmet electrical load monthly
Average Value (kg)

daily low averages. It can be depicted from Fig. 9 that PV capacity

30 min
decreases with increase in solar radiation and wind speed.
20
Fig. 10 shows the monthly average electrical production.
V. COST OPTIMIZATION
10
The aim of this study is to achieve a stand-alone hybrid
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Ann
generation system, which should be appropriately designed in
Month terms of economic, reliability, and environ-mental measures
Fig. 7. Stored Hydrogen Monthly Averages. subject to physical and operational constraints/strategies
40
Unmet Electrical Load Monthly Averages [13,14,15].
max The system cost is defined as sum of PV cost (CPV), WG
daily high
30 mean cost (CWG), battery cost (CBAT), electrolyser cost (CELEC), FC
cost (CFC), convertor cost (CCONV), and hydrogen tank cost
Average Value (kW)

daily low
min
20 (CTANK).
10 CSYSTEM = CPV + CWG + CBAT + CELEC + CFC
+ CCONV + CTANK (1)
0
The cost for each element should be deducted:
-10
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Ann Ci = Ni * [CCosti + RCosti * Ki + OMCosti] (2)
Month
Fig. 8. Unmet Electrical Load Monthly Averages. i = PV,WG, Battery, FC, Electrolyser,
TABLE III. ANNUAL ELECTRIC ENERGY PRODUCTION
Converter, hydrogen Tank

Component Production(kWh/yr) Fraction

Where Ni is the number/size of the system component,
CCosti is the capital cost, RCosti is the replacement cost, Ki is
PV array 295,898 65%
the number of replacement, and OMCosti is operation and
Wind turbine 156,364 34% maintenance cost through the system operation. The cost of the
Fuel Cell 5,814 1% system elements can be seen in Fig. 11. The breakdown of cost
Total 458,076 100% analysis of configuration is presented in Fig. 12.
Legend
TABLE IV. ANNUAL ELECTRIC ENERGY CONSUMPTION 6.0
300 kW
280
Load Consumption(kWh/yr) Fraction
5.5 260
AC primary load 226,741 92% 240
Electrolyser load 20,349 8% 220
5.0
Wind Speed (m/s)

Total 247,090 100% 200

180
Unmet Load 654 --- 4.5 160
TABLE V. ANNUAL EMISSIONS 140

4.0 120
Pollutant Emissions (kg/yr)
100
Carbon dioxide -3.56
3.5
Carbon monoxide 2.27
Unburned hydrocarbons 0.251
3.0
Particulate matter 0.171 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5
Solar Radiation (kWh/m ²/d)
Sulfur dioxide 0 Fig. 9. PV array capacity.
Nitrogen oxides 20.2
 Monthly Average Electric Production
70
PV
Wind
60
Fuel Cell

50
Power (kW)

40

30

20

10

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Fig. 10. Monthly Average Electrical Production.

VI. CONCLUSION
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Fig. 12. Breakdown of Cost Analysis of Configuration.